It’s a long day today and I haven’t even played yet! I was to play, according to the first match schedule posted online, at 10:20 am today. I got up, ran around a bit and drove over to the courts (about 20 min.) only to be told that my time had been changed to 18:20 (6:20 pm…and there are no lighted courts outside). So…I spoke with the referee who said he’d changed that time a long time ago and I was supposed to be told of the change when I checked in, but I wasn’t. I even checked my time about 9pm last night and there was no change posted, and no schedule for today posted either, apparently it wasn’t posted till 9am (play starts at 9) today for today’s matches. I play a doctor so I suspect she had to work and that’s why my time was changed. I also found out why the draws aren’t posted before play begins. Apparently a lot of players in Germany, if they see the draw and it’s not a good one just don’t show up, so their solution is to not post them till after the first round has been played. I guess there are so many tournaments in Germany, that if one draw doesn’t work out another one will.
The referee also said that there was a big increase in the number of entrants this year, as this tournament no longer conflicts with the one I played last week. So the tournament organizers were unprepared and there weren’t enough courts for the tournament, it explains why it’s impossible to practice…though play only begins at 9am, it could begin earlier, it’s light at 6…but 9 is considered very early here.
It rained like crazy last night, but the courts were dry by 8 am or so, and I’m hoping the rain holds off till after my match. The woman at the desk said that play didn’t finish last night till midnight, due to the rain (they went indoors onto carpet to finish).